Breakaway menu questions

[screamin400]

We are doing NCL for the first time in Jan. We are on an 11 day Western Caribbean. My question is about the 5 free dining nights we have. I would love to pick them in advance but would want to see what is in the main dining room first. I have searched the web for menus but to no avail. I expect I have to wait until on the ship and then they pay venues may be getting full. We are traveling in a party of 6 and will probably dine together so was hoping to not wait until the last minute. Does anyone know where to find the menus I may be missing? How do you do it?

[smplybcause]

I think the problem you're going to have asking this is that the breakaway has been doing 7 day cruises since she got to Miami. So there's no one that's been on an 11 night on her in a while - definitely not a 11 night western out of Florida. And I believe this is the first time she'll be out of Canaveral - I'm not sure if they change menus based on home port? 

 

They save a lot of reservations for on board, but I can't tell you if there's some place to check the entire cruises MDR menus right after you get on board. 

[ColeThornton]

There isn't going to be a way to find out exactly what meals will be served in the MDR on your cruise.  I would go ahead and make the specialty reservations that you want and then cancel/reschedule as necessary.

[screamin400]

That would explain why I do not find anything. We figure we will book in advance. With 6 of us dining together we will book all 11 nights and then figure it out on the ship. Easier to switch a reservation adding 4 more than trying to add 6 I would think. Well, thanks for the help. I can quit looking. 

[njhorseman]

30 minutes ago, screamin400 said:

We are doing NCL for the first time in Jan. We are on an 11 day Western Caribbean. My question is about the 5 free dining nights we have. I would love to pick them in advance but would want to see what is in the main dining room first. I have searched the web for menus but to no avail. I expect I have to wait until on the ship and then they pay venues may be getting full. We are traveling in a party of 6 and will probably dine together so was hoping to not wait until the last minute. Does anyone know where to find the menus I may be missing? How do you do it?

You can't find out what menus will be used on what days in advance. It's not as if they always use the same menu on the same night of the cruise. They have about two weeks worth of menus and can use them in any order.

 

We  make our specialty restaurant reservations without regard to what might be on the MDR menu on any particular night. If you have a party of 6 that wants to eat together in the specialties you should make your reservations in advance or at the latest soon after embarkation. With a large party it's going to be increasingly difficult as time advances to get reservations  at the most popular dining times.

Edited September 21, 2019 by njhorseman

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, screamin400 said:

We are doing NCL for the first time in Jan. We are on an 11 day Western Caribbean. My question is about the 5 free dining nights we have. I would love to pick them in advance but would want to see what is in the main dining room first. I have searched the web for menus but to no avail. I expect I have to wait until on the ship and then they pay venues may be getting full. We are traveling in a party of 6 and will probably dine together so was hoping to not wait until the last minute. Does anyone know where to find the menus I may be missing? How do you do it?

Specialty dining reservations are available for online booking 120 days prior to departure. NCL holds some tables for onboard booking on embarkation day. Popular specialty dining rooms (Teppanyaki, Cagney's, Le Bistro) will sell out of prime time tables quickly (especially for larger groups). Don't delay in booking. One person can book at table of 6 (people don't need to book individually). 

 

wrt Main Dining Room menus, NCL rotates through a set of 14 menus. The executive chef on the ship will select the menu for any particular cruise about a month in advance and provision the cruise for those menus. Also, the 11-day cruise is not a "regular" itinerary. So, there is no way of knowing what will be in the MDR on any given night (even when you are on the ship). So I would remove that from your consideration for selecting dining nights.

Book your two main theater shows first. Then schedule your dining around those shows. (Both are available online 120 days prior to departure). Also, consider using one of your dining credits toward the Velvet Dinner Show (always book premium seats, never standard seats). 

Edited September 21, 2019 by BirdTravels

[Sand and Seas]

A few years ago you could ask to see  all the MDR menus at the reservation desk to assist you in making your choices.   I'm guessing they stopped that availability due to the volume of cruisers that are now getting a dining package and/or platinum meals.     

We are always able to find a variety of good choices we can enjoy on the MDR menu or perhaps O'Sheehans (or The Local).  And if there is something in particular you want to try on a MDR menu, you can always go to your Specialty reservation and then make a later evening visit in the MDR to try that interesting dessert😋

 

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Sand and Seas

[bltrn]

On 9/21/2019 at 4:22 PM, screamin400 said:

We are doing NCL for the first time in Jan. We are on an 11 day Western Caribbean. My question is about the 5 free dining nights we have. I would love to pick them in advance but would want to see what is in the main dining room first. I have searched the web for menus but to no avail. I expect I have to wait until on the ship and then they pay venues may be getting full. We are traveling in a party of 6 and will probably dine together so was hoping to not wait until the last minute. Does anyone know where to find the menus I may be missing? How do you do it?

https://www.beyondships2.com

[bltrn]

This should help.

 

https://www.beyondships2.com

 

 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, bltrn said:

This should help.

 

https://www.beyondships2.com

 

 

No, it doesn't really help. If you look at what that site provides nowhere will you find a full collection of up-to-date menus from any NCL ship.  Nowhere will you find all the menus for an 11 day cruise...plus even if you had a copy of each possible menu (typically there are about 14 menus) there's no way to know in advance which menu will be used on any particular night. The OP wants to pick in advance the nights to make specialty restaurant reservations based on what's on the MDR menus on any particular night but that's impossible because that information is not known in advance.

[disneylover89]

Do all 3 main dining rooms have the same menu on the same night?

[njhorseman]

20 minutes ago, disneylover89 said:

Do all 3 main dining rooms have the same menu on the same night?

Yes.